When a new agency undertakes a precedent-setting mission, like implementing the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the excitement and energy of the historic moment sustains the effort in the initial years. Then, after the passage of time, the arrival of new people, and the conduct of new treaty missions, questions arise about origins, assumptions, and accomplishments. To answer those questions and to tell the story of the men and women who conducted the INF Treaty's on-site inspection mission, the On-Site Inspection Agency is publishing this history.
This book, the first in a series by the Historian of the On-Site Inspection Agency, documents the historical events. In the American constitutional system, those federal agencies which are involved in significant, contemporary missions have a special obligation to inform the public of their activities. The government is accountable to the people; this history helps meet that obligation by telling the story of "On-Site Inspections Under the INF Treaty."
ROBERT W. PARKER
MAJOR GENERAL, U.S. AIR FORCE
DIRECTOR